[Committee] Inquiry submission : Stern Review and tax policy

[P. Candela-Pokorna]

Dear Dr Wrigley,

I thought I should tell you first, as the author of the work, about this 
possibility of contacting people at the EC. But of course I agree with you 
that this should not be rushed and should be well prepared and coordinated 
with the rest of the society's committee.

> Perhaps a document could be written explaining how and why the European 
> Union should take action?

> I am advocating scrapping EU VAT, which is governed by European treaty 
> (upper and lower limits, for example). The UK would be in breach of its 
> obligations to eliminate VAT unilaterally. A revenue-neutral swap of VAT 
> for Carbon Tax would be a profound *but achievable* step. The Union 
> *must* take such substantive action and is the correct level to pursue 
> this. Nobody is seriously considering fixing the ETS (sell all permits at 
> a fixed (high) price). The EU needs to find an politically acceptable way 
> of phasing out the ETS, perhaps viewing it as a way to move to a simpler, 
> stabler tax system.

Such a document could maybe also analyse critically the flow of scientific 
information to the EC, from its origins in the European Environment Agency 
(http://www.eea.europa.eu/) to its use in Brussels, and how compromises are 
reached. For instance, do you know if the insufficient goal of cutting 
emissions by 20% by 2020 announced by Barroso recently was based on too 
optimistic science?

Pablo 
>(copy to ZCS committee (who gets this?), Steve and Stephen)
>
>Pablo,
>
> > I am a student at Churchill College, and a member of the committee of 
> > the Cambridge Zero Carbon Society. I wanted to thank you very much for 
> > your work. I have some personal contacts in the European Commission in 
> > Brussels and could try to pass your work to the Commissioner for 
> > Economic and Monetary Affairs, Mr Joaquin Almunia. This would be in an 
> > unofficial way, and it might be quite fast, by e-mail. Of course this 
> > is entirely up to you and I wanted to ask for your permission.
>
> Thank you for your encouraging email. I have spent quite a lot of time 
> thinking about general economic and environmental policy, discussing the 
> issues with Steve Stretton, Robin Smith (CRAG) and others.
>
> Your link in the EC could be very valuable, but we need to think a bit 
> about objectives and strategy first.
>
> I believe that Cambridge Zero Carbon Society should not simply be a 
> "talking shop" within the university, but to try be an advocacy group for 
> greenhouse gas reduction ideas. I know this may pose technical issues as 
> a University supported society. The society web site is a good place to 
> start promotion of the ideas, but actively contacting politicians, media 
> and opinion formers would be a natural approach for advocacy.
>
> Perhaps a document could be written explaining how and why the European 
> Union should take action? The Society could try to draw it to the 
> attention of European Commissioners, perhaps through your contacts.
>
> I am advocating scrapping EU VAT, which is governed by European treaty 
> (upper and lower limits, for example). The UK would be in breach of its 
> obligations to eliminate VAT unilaterally. A revenue-neutral swap of VAT 
> for Carbon Tax would be a profound *but achievable* step. The Union 
> *must* take such substantive action and is the correct level to pursue 
> this. Nobody is seriously considering fixing the ETS (sell all permits at 
> a fixed (high) price). The EU needs to find an politically acceptable way 
> of phasing out the ETS, perhaps viewing it as a way to move to a simpler, 
> stabler tax system.
>
>The Treasury Committee writes:
> > Submissions should be original work, not previously published or 
> > circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, your submission becomes the 
> > property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless 
> > you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. 
> > Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate 
> > individual cases.
>
> The submission itself is not my property now! maybe you should ask the 
> Clerk of the Committee instead? I don't mind if you do, but I don't think 
> it is urgent. Maybe The Society should discuss strategy further? If it 
> has already decided it can't send stuff to the EC, we could discuss how 
> we, as individuals can proceed?
>
>Basically, my time and motivation to act as a one-person campaign group
>is limited!  There is so much that can and should be done, but I'd like
>some help!  If we're serious about effecting change, it shouldn't be
>in an uncoordinated, ad-hoc manner.
>
>Let me know what you think!
>--
>Dr. Adrian Wrigley, Cambridge, UK
>